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X Five Precepts ( Pa�Casila ) 144 X FIVE PRECEPTS ( PACASILA ) COTETS 1. Five Vices and Five Virtues 2. Self Responsibility in Moral Training 3. Precepts are Indispensable in Moral Training 4. Dhamma Way to Compare Oneself with Another 5. First Precept: Abstention from Killing Living Beings 6. Second Precept: Abstention from Taking What is Not Given 7. Third Precept: Abstention from Sexual Misconduct 8. Fourth Precept: Abstention from False Speech 9. Fifth Precept: Abstention from Partaking of Intoxicants 10. Benefits of ‘Moderate Drinking’: Fact or Fallacy? 11. Factors that Enhance the Keeping of Precepts 12. Consequences of Breaking and Keeping the Five Precepts 13. References Five Precepts • 145 1. Five Vices and Five Virtues In many suttas regarding lay practice ( Anguttara iii, 203), the Buddha explicitly warned of the five vices, which are dangers and enemies, and lead to hell. What are the five? i) Killing living beings ii) Taking what is not given iii) Sexual misconduct iv) Telling lies v) Partaking of intoxicants • One who has these five vices lives the home-life without self- confidence. • One who has these five vices breeds hatred in this life or breeds hatred in the life hereafter, feels in his mind pain and grief. • One who has these five vices is termed 'vicious' and arises in hell . In the same suttas , the Buddha spoke of the advantages of cultivation of the five virtues, which are the Five Precepts, namely: i) Abstention from killing living beings ii) Abstention from taking what is not given iii) Abstention from sexual misconduct iv) Abstention from telling lies v) Abstention from partaking of intoxicants • One who has these five virtues lives the home-life with complete self-confidence. • One who has these five virtues breeds no hatred in this life, or in the life hereafter, nor does he feel pain and grief. • One who has these five virtues is called virtuous and arises in the happy plane of existence. 146 • Buddhism Course The Five Precepts or Virtues ( Pancasila ) form the very core of moral discipline for the lay disciple. Dhammapada verse 183 summarizes the Teaching of the Buddhas as: "Not to do any evil, to cultivate good, to purify one's mind." Thus by learning to avoid evil through the precepts, one initially begins to check the gross defilements and avoid transgressions of bodily and verbal actions. 2. Self-Responsibility in Moral Training The Five Precepts form the actual practice of morality for the layman. They are the minimum ethical code, which are mandatory for all lay disciples. They are undertaken immediately after the taking of the Three Refuges at every Buddhist service or ceremony and are administered by a monk if one is present; otherwise the lay disciples can do it by themselves. It is usual for devout lay disciples to undertake the Five Precepts as part of their daily recitation. The Five Precepts are undertaken by reciting the following: i) Panatipata veramani-sikkhapadam samadiyami. The taking of life I undertake the training rule to abstain. ii) Adinnadana veramani-sikkhapadam samadiyami. The taking of things not given I undertake the training rule to abstain iii) Kamesu micchacara veramani-sikkhapadam samadiyami. Sexual misconduct I undertake the training rule to abstain. iv) Musavada veramani-sikkhapadam samadiyami. False speech I undertake the training rule to abstain. v) Sura meraya majja pamadatthana veramani-sikkhapadam samadiyami. Intoxicating liquors, spirits and drugs that cause heedlessness I undertake the training rule to abstain. Five Precepts • 147 The words ‘veramani-sikkhapadam samadiyami ’ mean ‘abstinence- training rule I undertake’ are shared by all five and shows that they are not commandments imposed externally but training rules or precepts which one takes upon oneself through one's initiative and endeavors to follow with awareness and understanding. The emphasis here as throughout the entire path, is on self- responsibility . 3. Precepts are Indispensable in Moral Training There are some who argue that since moral training is one's own responsibility, it is enough simply to have good intentions and let oneself be guided by one's sense of what is right or wrong. Having a set of rules of conduct is at best superfluous and worse still, they can lead to a dogmatic concept of morality or to a constricting and legalistic system of ethics. Although it is true that morality cannot be equated with a set of rules, yet these rules are necessary because they form the actual practice of morality by which one can curb the grosser forms of defilements. The precepts help to cultivate moral behavior by a process involving the substitution of opposites. The actions prohibited by the precepts such as killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech and partaking of intoxicants are all rooted in greed, hatred and delusion and when we succumb to them, we strengthen these evil roots that they become dominant traits. By undertaking to observe the precepts, we weaken the grip of these evil roots by dispelling them with wholesome mental volitions. Consequently a process of substitution takes place in which the defilements are replaced by wholesome or moral states, which increasingly become more ingrained as we go on with the training. Each time the precepts are upheld, each time the moral volitions become strengthened, until eventually morality becomes a habitual trait through the condition of repetition ( asevana paccaya ). 148 • Buddhism Course The cultivation of good traits takes place by habitual recurrence and many passages are found in the scriptures exhorting wholesome cultivation by repetition. Thus even though at first, a practice arouses resistance from within, if it is repeated over and over again with understanding and development, the qualities it calls into play, such as wholesome volitions in the case of precepts, slowly become the dominant mental trait. Therefore, the Five Precepts are indispensable in the cultivation of virtue for the lay disciple. 4. Dhamma Way to Compare Oneself with Another Once when the Buddha was in the village of Veludvara in Kosala country, He was asked by the villagers to teach them how to attain to the heavenly world where the virtuous are reborn. Thereupon the Buddha taught them to reflect on the Dhamma way to compare oneself with another, which leads to right understanding in the observance of the Five Precepts. • On the matter of killing : Every person wishes to live and not to die; everyone is fond of pleasure and adverse to pain. • If someone were to kill us, it would not be pleasing or delightful to us. Also if one kills another who wants to live and not to die, it would not be pleasing or delightful to the other person. • So something that is not pleasing to oneself must also be not pleasing to another. Therefore something that is not pleasing to one-self should not be imposed on another. As a result of this reflection, he himself abstains from killing living beings. He encourages others so to abstain and he speaks in praise of so abstaining. Thus his bodily conduct is absolutely pure in these three aspects. By similar reflection and reasoning, one acquires a better understanding and appreciation of each of the precepts. Five Precepts • 149 In the case of the fifth precept , although the partaking of intoxicants appears to involve oneself only, it is the most dangerous because it can lead to the violation of all the precepts thereby causing more harm to oneself and others . Thus one who keeps the Five Precepts is an asset to oneself and others. In fact, in Anguttara iv, 245, the Buddha has compared the meticulous observance of the Five Precepts as five great gifts. By doing so, one gives fearlessness, loving kindness and goodwill to all beings by one's virtues. 5. First Precept: Abstention from Killing Living Beings The word 'panatipata ' is derived from two words: 'pana ' which means 'living being' and 'atipata ' which means 'striking down', hence killing or destroying. According to the Atthasalini or Expositor, for killing to take place five conditions must be met. i) The being must be alive. ii) There must be knowledge that it is a living being. iii) There must be intention to cause its death. iv) Action must be taken to cause its death v) Death must result from such action. If all these conditions are fulfilled, then the precept has been broken. Conditions for Killing • The first important point to note is that there must be an intention or volition to kill. Volition is the mental factor responsible for the action ( kamma ). Without intention, there is no transgression as when we accidentally kill an ant while trying to pull it away from our body to prevent it from biting us. Killing is classified as immoral bodily action since it generally occurs via the body, but what really performs the act is the mind using the body as its instrument . 150 • Buddhism Course • The second important point is that the action taken to cause death need not occur directly through the body. It can be carried out by giving a command to kill by way of words, writing or gesture. The one who issues such a command becomes responsible for the action as soon as it achieves the intention of killing a living being. In extreme cases, killing can be effected by occult practices or supernormal powers. • The third important point to note is that the precept is broken only when one is aware that the object of one's action is a living being . Thus if someone washes vegetables without knowing that there are caterpillars on the leaves and kills them, the precept is not broken. • Lastly, the being must die as a result of this action. Thus if a killer is chasing his victim with a knife intent on killing him, but the latter accidentally trips on a rock and breaks his head resulting in death, although the victim died, his death was accidental and no killing has taken place.
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